Manufacturing optical devices (e.g., for cameras) includes providing and allocating mount elements to lens modules wherein the mount elements are to be arranged within the optical devices to define a fixed separation distance between the lens modules and the image sensor plane. The mount elements have variable mount FFL sections by means of which the geometrical distance between the lens module and the image sensor plane is adjusted for each lens module, individually or in groups dependent on the optical properties of the lens modules, to compensate the variation of the lens module values among the lens modules, so that the focal planes of the lens modules falls into the image sensor plane.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method of manufacturing a plurality of optical devices for cameras, each optical device having a fix focus lens module and a mount element for assembling with an image sensor comprising an image sensor plane, each fix focus lens module comprising one or more lenses or lens parts, the method comprising: manufacturing a plurality of lens modules, wherein all the lens modules are part of a same wafer or wafer stack assembly; defining at least two classes of focusing parameter values (FP), each class of focusing parameter value(s) encompassing a lens module focusing parameter value or a range of lens module focusing parameter values, which the lens module may feature; determining a respective lens module focusing parameter value (FP) for each lens module; providing and allocating barrel-shaped mount elements to the lens modules, wherein the barrel-shaped mount elements are arranged to accommodate the lens modules therein and wherein the mount elements are to be arranged within the optical devices to define a fixed separation distance between the lens modules and the image sensor plane, the mount elements having variable mount section lengths by means of which the geometrical distance between the lens module and the image sensor plane is adjusted for each lens module individually or in groups dependent on the optical properties of the lens modules, to compensate the variation of the lens module focusing parameter values between the plurality of lens modules, so that the focal plane of the lens modules falls into the image plane or lies within the depth of focus of the camera containing the optical device, wherein each group of lens modules is fewer than all the lens modules on the wafer or wafer stack assembly; wherein providing and allocating the barrel-shaped mount elements to the lens modules includes: allocating each lens module to a class of focusing parameter value(s) based on the determined lens module focusing parameter values; providing and allocating to each class of focusing parameter value(s) a class of mount elements with a defined mount section length depending on the lens module focusing parameter value or the range of lens module focusing parameter values of the class to which the mount elements are allocated; and allocating to each lens module of a class a mount element of this class; the method further including assembling the lens modules and the mount elements to form optical devices.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the lens module focusing parameter corresponds to a flange focus length (FFL) or to a lens module parameter based on the FFL, and wherein the method comprises determining the lens module focusing parameter value by direct or indirect measuring of the FFL value or by determining of the parameter value based on the FFL of the corresponding lens modules.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the mount section length of the mount elements is graded in steps of 5-10 μm.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the lens modules have different focusing parameter values due to fabrication tolerances of a lens structure.
5. The method according to claim 1 , comprising manufacturing the lens modules using replication on wafer scale.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the manufacturing of the lens modules comprises embossing.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the manufacturing of the lens modules comprises molding.
8. The method according to claim 1 , further including inserting the lens modules into respective ones of the barrel-shaped mount elements.
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August 12, 2011
January 12, 2016
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